Improvement in apparatus for raising sunken vessels



EMILY E. 'IASSEY.

'APPARATUS Fon RAISING SUNKEN vEssELs. v l No.18'o;286.. Pazennea July 25.1875.

N-PTEHSfPMOTO-UTHOGRAPHER. WASVNINGTON. D CV rrED ASTATES PATENT OFFICE.,

`EMILY E. TASSEY, 0F MOKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 80,286, dated July 25, 1876; application filed June 17, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMILY E. TAssEY, of the borough of 'McKeesporu county of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, have invented and Apparatus for Raising Sunken Vessels, being al combination of my siphon propellerypump with condensed air chamber; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawings are sufiicient to enable any person skilled in the 'art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and use my said invention without further invention or experiment.

In order to accomplish this I employ an 'airpump, moved by steam or other power, connected with the sunken vessel by means of an air-tight tube fitting in an orifice in the deck of the vessel, the hatches and other openings of the vessel being closed. Through another orifice in the deck of the vessel is an air-tight tube, extending' from the bottom ot' the hull of the vessel upward to the surface or near the surface of the water, thence curving downward to the same level or lower than the hull ot' the boat. At or near the surface of the water is a screw-propeller, the action of which is to impel the water from the hull ofthe vesl sel and discharge itat the end of the curved tube, the air-pump simultaneously liiling the hull with condensed air. Vhen allthe water is discharged from the hull ot' the vesseland its space refilled with condensed air the vessel will easily be raised.

Referring to the drawings to more fully illustrate and describe my invention, A represents an air-pump, moved by steam-engine' S. B is a tube (air-tight) connecting with the hull ofthe vessel. E P Fis -a curved tube, reaching from the bottom of the hold of the vessel upward to the engine 'I on the surface of the water W. At P is a screwpropeller, moved by the steam-engineT. VAt V is a valve to cut oft' the course of the water or air when desirable. Steam-power being applied to the air-pump A and to the propeller P at the same time, the effect of their action is reciprocal. The propeller, forcing the water outward at E, tends to form a vacuum in the vessel, While the air from the air-pump lls that vacuum, and, furthermore, being condensed in the hull in the air-chamber formed by the egress of the water, presses 011 the whole surface of the Water in the vessel, and forces it through the discharge-pipe with 'increased velocity, according to the law of transmitted pressure. Let the distance fromI the orilice E to the surface of the Water W be thirty feet. The pressure of this perpendicular column of Water, fifteen pounds to the square inch, is what prevents the natural Siphon-flow of the water from F to E, and the power required from the propeller to overcome this pressure is but fifteenpounds to the square inch. Also, the Water in the opposite arms of the curved tube being' in equilibrium, the weight of the descending column E P assists in bringing up the ascending column FP, making a high velocity easily attained. A

Having thus described my invention, what AI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat-V As an' improvement in devices for raising sunken vessels, the combination ofthe airpump A and conducting-tube B with the curved Water-discharge tube F P E, containing the screw-propeller P, substantially as and for the purposes set forth'.

In testimony whereof I, the said EMILY E.

TASSEY, have hereunto set my hand. Y

EMILY E. TASSEY. Witnesses:

HARRY J SGHLUTZ, GHAs. SouoELLnu.v 

